


Love in the Time of Pterosauria

by ChicagoTeddy



Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Developing Relationship, M/M, Unofficial Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2015-11-25
Packaged: 2018-04-15 15:49:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4612434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChicagoTeddy/pseuds/ChicagoTeddy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Owen realizes he hasn't really escaped Jurassic World yet. Lowery comes along for the ride.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Back to Jurassic World

**Author's Note:**

> Not Beta-ed. Just wanted to see if I could make a ship out of basically nothing!

Indominus Rex was gone.   
That much seemed to be clear now. Owen had gone to the windows overlooking the mosasaur tank dozens of times over the course of that first sleepless night, staring out at the unbroken surface of the glassy water. The boys slept, maybe just from exhaustion, and even Claire dozed, though she slept on the edge of a knife, her senses heightened. But Owen could hardly sit down, pacing the windows, eyes piercing the dark, searching for any hint of large scaly bodies.

The next morning they were ferried to Costa Rica, where Claire had a tearful reunion with her family. Owen helped people in any way he could as they waited for their flights or boats home. Claire found Owen after returning her nephews.  
She gave him a small knowing smile. "So...what do we do now?"  
Owen smirked back. "We should probably stick together. For survival." 

Everything seemed as if it had finally been wrapped up. It seemed logical that he and Claire would be together now. Wasn't that how it went when you survived something like this together?

Barry caught them when they were leaving the warehouse. He looked concerned. "Owen, Claire, I need to talk to you."  
Owen felt a small tangle of dread coiling in the pit of his stomach. "Im listening."  
"Hoskins is dead but InGen still wants its assets. After hearing about the showdown they want the Rex now too."  
For a moment they stood in stunned silence.  
"What?? How do you know this?" Claire asked, voice strained.  
Owen felt fury building in him. Of course InGen couldn't just leave well enough alone. He had hoped that the island would be condemned and the animals could finally live in peace.  
"Lowery intercepted some messages implying they are returning to Nublar in a few days."  
"These are animals not weapons" Claire growled.  
"But they ARE legally owned by InGen."  
Owen cursed under his breath "Well what do we do?"  
"I have a plan.” Barry began. “Isla Sorna is a protected, restricted Island as per John Hammonds will. InGen no longer has rights to it. The dinosaurs have maintained an ecosystem of their own there."  
Owen watched him, understanding making his heart pound. "You want to move the animals."  
Barry gave a grave nod. "If we can transport them to Sorna before InGen can get to them they will be safe. It will be very difficult. Very dangerous. And very illegal."  
Owen sighed, pacing anxiously now.  
Somewhere out on Nublar, Rexy was loose. Blue was loose. Hundreds of aerial dinos were loose. Any of the survivors from the Gallimimus Valley massacre...the Suchomimus...Baronyx...were all loose. That meant the island was a bit more than compromised. And depending on priorities, it meant all of those animals were in danger. Not from each other, but from man. The odds of at least the carnivores being tranq-ed and taken by InGen was great. The animals were InGen property now, and although it was likely that Dr. Wu had escaped with plenty of embryos, starting testing with a full grown Rex and Raptor would surely be ideal.  
"Okay. Then thats what we do."  
Claire looked to him in shock, then gently pulled him aside. She took a small breath before meeting his eyes. "Owen...Our plane leaves in an hour."  
Owen looked to her like a worried puppy and her heart visibly sank. "Claire... I can't." he sighed.  
She was quiet a moment, passing a glance to Barry before responding in a grave hiss. "I can't stay Owen. My sister came here to get the boys and we need to stay together now. My family needs me-"  
"Claire. I know." Owen shook is head. "Your place is with them right now. But I still have a job here. I need to make things right."  
She stared back at him hard. "Why? Haven't you done enough? Given enough to these animals? What about sticking together? For survival?"  
"They're my responsibility. Blue is...Claire, Blue is my family. Or the closest thing I have to it." He took her hand gently. "I promise you, I will see you again. And next time I'll take you on a real date, cross my heart. No board shorts."  
She knew by now that arguing was useless and sighed. "Just...don't get eaten."  
He smirked. "Promise."  
For a moment Owen thought she was going to kiss him, but she did not. Instead she gave a final curt nod before clicking away in her heels.

Owen need to be alone to think for a while. He sat on a bench at the dock. In the distance, a single pteradon had made it this far and continued flying over the crystal blue sea.  
"You seem like you're thinking about something important." Lowery Cruthers was standing behind Owen suddenly, interrupting his thoughts. Owen turned to look at him. The man looked tired and anxious.  
"Just wondering where we go from here" he replied, voice as tired as Lowery looked.  
Lowery gave a nod and sat on the bench beside Owen heavily. "Yeah to be honest, I trust your knowledge more than anyone else right now...so I was hoping you'd know whats next."  
Owen stared back out at the sea. "Well I can't leave. I've turned it around in my head...but InGen will come back for their dinosaurs."  
Lowery couldn’t stop his brows from raising. "So...we're doing this?"  
Owen turned to smirk and raise his brows at the other man. "We?"  
"Yeah Im in this too!" Lowery seemed mildly offended to be discounted.  
Owen watched him carefully. After a moment he spoke."You could have evacuated already. Why did you stay?"  
Lowery felt his cheeks getting hot. "I...wanted to be useful..."  
Owen nodded in understanding, smirk growing. "You wanted to be a hero."  
He wasn't wrong. Lowery focused on the sea now in an attempt to lessen his embarrassment. “I didn’t- I mean...you know you’re the motorcycle riding raptor guy I Just-”  
"Well its a good thing" Owen interrupted "if you hadn't stayed and opened Rexy's cage we'd probably all be dead."  
There was a moment of quiet as Lowery visibly rolled the words around in his head.  
"All I did was press a button..."  
"You made a choice. We all make choices."  
Lowery looked back to him, watched him a moment, then gave another nod. "Thanks dude. So, who else is staying?"  
"I dont know. Barry at least."  
“Claire?”  
Owen shook his head, trying not to show the disappointment this caused him. Lowery seemed concerned about this revelation. “No Claire huh? I mean wasn’t she sort of the mvp here?”  
Owen chuckled. “Claire’s the smartest of us all.”  
"So you and Barry...the two of you plan to round up all the dinosaurs. Alone. With no help."  
Owen sighed. "Look we don't have a plan yet."  
"No I just mean...youre going to need someone there to press your buttons, aren't you?"  
Owen smiled more, raising a brow. "I suppose it would be helpful to have someone in the control room..."  
"Me! I'm your guy."  
"Lowery this isn't a game though. It’s still dangerous-"  
"I know I know but I'll be in the safe control room, no exciting Indiana Jones bullshit for me. I'm not that active." He chuckled then stared at his shoes "..and...Owen...I care about them too you know. The dinosaurs."  
Owen watched him and his hard gaze softened. He remembered Lowery's desk full of figures, his childlike awe when he would make a trip out to the raptor paddock. Owen actually believed he was one of the few other people who truly saw them as animals, not assets.  
"Its your choice" he smiled a bit.


	2. Blue Returns

Owen waved goodbye to Claire and her nephews as they departed. It was a relief to know they would be safe now, even if Claire certainly didn't need his protection, and even if him staying was putting their fledgling relationship at risk.

It seemed more than a little strange that there was one ferry headed BACK to Jurassic World. Owen, Barry, Lowery, and a few other dedicated workers and scientists had managed to convince a ferryman to give them a lift back. They could see from a distance that the escaped pteradons and dimorphodons were soaring in joyous circles in the sky over the park.

They headed to Jurassic World's main control room.  
The goal was to get the animals back into containment with as few casualties as possible, then transport them to Isla Sorna 87 miles away, where they would then be released. The top priority was the predators.  
Now that Rexy and Blue had tasted freedom, convincing them gently to get back in their cages wouldn't be easy. Especially when he was on the outs with Blue. Then there were the attractions of the Cretaceous Cruise to deal with.  
At main control, Lowery and Barry were looking at a screen showing a map of the park. There were a few others who had also chosen to stay behind and assist. Owen recognized Dr. Aggie Dressler, one of the scientists. He had asked her out once and been turned down.  
"So whats the plan?" Owen asked. He honestly didn't think plans were that helpful either way. Usually they didn't work. Owen preferred spontaneity and instinct.  
"You and I go into the field. They will stay behind to guide and direct us. Once we have eyes on the carnivores, we decide where to go from there." Barry looked to Owen. He nodded in return. Simplicity was ideal.  
"Where were they last seen?"  
"The Rex was last spotted near the helipad." Aggie answered, pointing a finger at the screen. "Best guess is it will be moving toward Gallimimus Valley to hunt."  
His eyes ran over the screen. It was unnecessary. He was quite familiar with the island. "Then thats where we go. Right now the only plausible option to get Rexy is tranqs, a lot of them, then transporting her back with a crane and truck."  
Barry nodded in agreement. "Hopefully we can get to her before she gets too far out. Getting a crane into the jungle will be nearly impossible."  
Lowery was quiet, staring at the tiny tyrannosaurus figure on his desk. Even realizing that it had been for the best, he clearly felt responsible. It was him who had released the Rex. He just prayed that no one else would die.  
Owen seemed to sense his pensiveness "Lowery? You ok? We need you to have our backs out there."  
He looked up with big eyes "huh? Oh yes, yeah I've got you. I won't let you down."  
Owen gave a nod.

The group broke up as people readied for the events. Owen approached Lowery. "Hey."  
Lowery looked to him.  
"I can tell you're dwelling on something. Whats wrong?"  
"Im just...what if someone gets killed trying to get the Rex?"  
Owen shook his head "Stop. Not gonna happen. And regardless, you wouldn't be responsible. If you hadn't opened that paddock, I’d be dead."  
Lowery looked skeptical but Owen gave him a slap on the shoulder. "I mean it. I owe you one."  
Lowery couldn't help but relax and smile. Something about Owen comforted him. It could have just been Owen's skill with the dinosaurs, but he felt safer when he was around.  
"Who'd have thought we'd be risking our lives to SAVE a T Rex."  
Owen smiled a little "Guess thats irony for you."

Owen was particularly concerned about finding Blue. He continuously pushed from his mind the fact that his other raptors were dead. He didn't have time to grieve. Instead he covered the hollow hole in his heart by focusing on finding and saving his beta.  
He rode his motorcycle on the dirt paths through the jungle, calling out for her. He used her name, his whistles, and even a few of the raptor mimic calls he had learned. For hours he searched. Barry had taken a different path on an ATV, looking for signs of large dinos.  
"Owen, any sign of her?" Lowery's voice come over the bluetooth in his ear.  
"Trust me, if Id seen her you'd know."  
"Uh once you find her should I leave you two alone for a while or-?"  
"Gross, dude." Owen replied but couldn't help but chuckle.  
The fact was, his relationship with his raptors had also been his deepest bond at this point. They had become like friends, like family. He had raised them, and while recognizing that above all they were still very unpredictable wild predators...he had loved them. And he still loved Blue.  
"Do you think its possible she’s following the Rex? Like an alpha?" Lowery asked. He sounded like he might be eating a sandwich.  
"I suppose its possible. But raptors and rexes are very different species. I can't imagine they can communicate. Indominus had raptor genes, thats why they followed her."  
"Still I mean...she’s all alone now."  
Owen was silent.  
"Shit...Owen...uh...i'm sorry...I didn't mean to-"  
"It's fine. Any anomalies on the map?"  
"Nope. No heat signatures within range."  
Owen couldn't help but let out a growl of frustration. He didn't have time to chase Bluey around the jungle all day.  
Through his bluetooth he heard a strange muffled sound.  
"Lowery?"  
There was no answer.  
"Lowery? Talk to me please whats going on? Lowery?"  
"...Owen...I....shes here..." Lowery choked out into the mic.  
Owen's blood ran cold as he immediately swerved his bike around. "You need to hide until I get there, hide good Lowery-"  
There was more muffled and crackling. Then the hunting scream of a raptor. It was close. Too close. "LOWERY!"  
The bluetooth went dead, releasing only a soft buzz indicating disconnection.  
Owen swore loudly and sped as fast as he could back to control.


	3. Stuck With You

Lowery had clamored into a storage closet as fast as possible and slumped against the wall, shaking. He had never anticipated the raptor being back in this neck of the woods, although now that he actually considered it, this was the only place where it knew it had a definite food source.  
The raptor had managed to snag his arm, leaving three deep gashes which he clutched tight, blood dribbling out between his fingers. How she hadn't snagged more was a mystery to him, but one he was grateful for.  
He heard Blue let out a guttural call. He recognized it as the sound to call to other raptors. Thank god there were no raptors to answer that call. She scraped fiercely at the door. Lowery knew it wouldn't hold long. The closet didn't have much in the way of weapons, nothing that had a chance against a dinosaur. His only hope was Owen.  
It was a terrible, and annoying thought. The last thing he wanted was to be a damsel in distress. The last thing he wanted was to again, be seen as incompetent. The last thing he wanted was for Owen to come busting in here with his ginormous biceps and glistening six pack like some damn Roman Gladiator to sweep him out of his closet.  
??????  
What the hell was that Freudian slip of thought?  
Lowery shook the image of a scantily clad raptor trainor out of his mind. It wasn’t the first time a...questionable...thought had passed through his mind. And he knew that eventually he might have to wake up and smell the bisexual coffee beans. But he sure as hell wasn’t going to die in a literal closet while having homoerotic thoughts.  
He looked around for some sort of weapon, and found only some cleaning supplies. A single claw splintered through the wood, then retracted. Lowery could now see the raptor's slitted eye peering in at him. He stared back in terror.

"BLUE. STAND DOWN."  
Owen had made it. Lowery felt like crying in relief.  
The raptor turned from the closet door, head tilting and claws flexing.  
Lowery scrambled to peer out the hole.  
"Blue, no. Down. Stop." Owen signaled with his hand for the raptor to leave its hunting stance. The raptor certainly seemed reluctant. Its tail swished and it clicked its teeth together.  
Owen was slowly readying his gun behind his back with his other hand, keeping the raptors eyes on his left. He clicked his training device and Blue's eyes dilated in excitement.  
"Thats good yes...Lowery is a friend, not food..." Owen had seconds to react. Too slow and Blue would realize what he was doing and lunge. He whirled his gun out and fired nearly instantly, praying his instinctual aim was good enough. The tranquilizer dart hit Blue in the shoulder. She lunged forward, then dropped.  
Owen panted, dropping his gun to the ground. He hated to shoot Blue, and now she might never trust him again, but it was all he could do. He knelt down and double checked her vitals before slowly opening the closet door.  
Lowery was trembling, white as a sheet, but relief painted his face.  
"Are you okay? Lowery look at me are you okay?" Owen kneeled in front of him.  
"Im...going to buy you a leash for Hanukkah." He managed to choke out.  
Owen stared at him a moment than laughed and hugged him "Shit man, don't scare me like that"  
"Scare you??" Lowery yelped but the comforting hug was appreciated. As he felt Owen’s muscles tighten around him, the warmth emanate from his body, his little closet thought flashed back into his mind. He blinked it away fast.  
Owen helped him up then checked his arm.  
"Its pretty bad, we need to fix that up fast." He dug through the shelving until he found a clean dust rag, then tied it tight around Lowery's wounded arm. Lowery winced and bit his lip hard. The color had not yet returned to his face.  
"Come on" he led him to a chair and sat him down. Lowery watched the unconscious raptor wearily. He felt the most peculiar mixture of adrenaline and exhaustion and it was making him nauseas.  
Owen picked up a headset "Barry? Dr. Dressler? Can anyone hear me?"  
"Roger, Owen. Dr. Dressler and I are in Gallimimus Valley. Is everything alright?"  
"Blue is contained at main control but Cruthers is hurt. I need all hands on deck."  
"Heading there now Owen."  
Owen looked back to Lowery "You're going to be fine. We can patch you up good enough in medical to wait for a ferry-"  
"What?" Lowery frowned. "Woa wait you mean leave? Can't you just like...wrap it and stuff and we can keep going?"  
"Lowery you need stitches. And you could get nerve damage or something if you aren’t treated properly."  
Lowery looked deeply disappointed.

Barry and Aggie arrived a while later. Aggie walked briskly to Lowery and began inspecting his arm. Owen watched.  
"Whats the verdict?"  
"I can sew him up. Its going to hurt for a while but the scratches missed anything serious."  
"You sure?" Owen frowned.  
Aggie raised a brow and pursed her lips "Yes, Owen. I didn't graduate medical school to have a man question my abilities."  
Owen raised his own brows now and backed up a bit sheepishly "I just wondered if I should get a ferry."  
"Do you want to go?" Aggie looked to Lowery, who shook his head, beaming. "No ferry needed then." She stood. "Follow me lets go to the clinic."

Owen and Barry got to work. They first bound the raptor on the off chance she woke before they could get her to her transport cage. Then they carried her (with the help of several others) out to a truck. They drove to the pier where a small base had been set up. They hoped to make as few trips to Sorna as possible, so they hoped to catch more dinosaurs before shipping off.  
Blue was put in her secure carrier in the shade, where she would stay just a little longer until it was time to go to her new home 87 miles across the sea.  
That evening back in the Visitors Center, Owen went to check in on Lowery. He was resting in the clinic in on of the beds, arm cleaned, sewed up and bandaged. He'd have a nasty scar, but he was grateful that was all he'd suffered. Owen gave a gentle knock then poked in.  
"Healing alright?"  
"Feeling better than ever. Hey you better watch out Owen, I think your girl Blue has a crush on me"  
"Yup you're fine" Owen smirked and sat in the chair by the bed. "Sorry about her almost eating you..."  
"I take it as a compliment really, I must look delicious." Lowery couldn't really help but joke. Not only was it his way, but it was often a defense mechanism.  
He had never been so scared in his life as he was in that closet. And Owen had seen that. He had needed Owen to save him. It was embarrassing to say the least. He seriously never did anything right.  
"I told you it wouldn't be easy doing this"  
"I know, Owen."  
Owen stared at the floor "Lets not do that again. I don't like coming so close to losing friends."  
Lowery watched him. Friends? Were they really friends? It was sort of difficult to imagine, they were so different. Owen was the cool tough guy, the athlete. Lowery was the awkward nerd. But they had been through a lot together, and Lowery knew that stressful situations shared with another was actually a way for the brain to chemically establish a relationship with that person.  
"Looks like you're stuck with me" Lowery smiled, trying not to flush.


	4. A New Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >>>>So sorry for the hiatus, hope to update this a bit more regularly now, but I'm known for my procrastinating. Thank you all for the kudos and positive feedback <3

The next day Lowery was well enough to leave the clinic. He insisted on continuing with the mission, though he was a bit more mindful of locking doors and watching for heat signatures near himself as well as others.

Now came his newfound problem of being unable to get Owen out of his head. 

He had taken up the nervous habit of constantly cleaning off his glasses while the other man was around, mostly so he didn’t have to look at him and get even more flustered.   
Lowery wasn’t exactly new to having crushes. In fact, he got them pathetically frequently. His ex had once joked that he would fall for anyone that was nice to him, and the truth wasn’t far off the mark. The only trouble was, he had never fallen for a guy before. Sure he was comfortable enough in himself to admit he had found men aesthetically pleasing before. But until this point he hadn’t given much thought to the idea that he might want to date one. 

_What are you DOING you moron? He has a girlfriend anyway!_

Lowery grumbled as he walked into the control room, sucking down some stale coffee. The other faces in the room looked like they hadn’t slept much last night on dino island. Owen was staring at the holo map on the wall with narrowed eyes, face drawn up in consternation.

Now that Blue had been caught, the priority was all Rexy. But Rexy would be a big undertaking, literally. Transporting her would involve a crane and a flatbed truck, both of which were limited in where they could reach on the island. Rexy would have to be lured to an access point.  
"We need to lead the Rex back into Jurassic World's Main street. Its the easiest solution" Dr. Dressler tapped her pen against the computer screen with a sigh.  
The group gathered around Owen now, staring at the distance between Main Street, and the point where Barry had recently gotten eyes on Rexy, by the north border of Gallimimus Plains. It was a formidable distance.

Barry and several others had been out hunting for flying dinos when they spotted the "tyrant lizard" scavenging off one of Indominus' apatosaurus kills. 

“The issue is, metriacanthosaurus have moved from their containment. There may be several in the area. If we meet up with them while trying to get the Rex-” Barry started.

“I don’t want to sound like a lunatic.” Owen turned to look at them, brow cocked like an uncertain puppy. “But hear me out. Let me win Blue back. If we used her-”

“You want us to release the velociraptor that we just caught.” Dressler interjected sharply. “The raptor that tried to eat Mr. Cruthers.”

“Blue isn’t a monster. She’s just an animal. An animal I have trained from birth. If I can gain back her trust, she can track the Rex while warning us of danger.”

One of the others chimed in. “No way! We can’t trust her!”

Owen gritted his teeth. The alternative to trying Blue was to risk lives traipsing around in the jungle where a lot of big predators lived along the river. 

“I think thats settled then. We are just going to have to trust that our heat monitors while warn us in time.” Dressler looked to Owen in an almost chastising manner, before standing. “Lets move out then.”

Owen glared but stomped off, praying, as usual, that he was wrong.

 

Owen led the group out to the northern area of the river. The island seemed eerily quiet now, so many of the large dinosaurs dead and slowly rotting in the plains. He wondered what kind of scavengers picked at them now, whether a crowd of dimorphodons were fighting over the meat, or if even Rexy herself had fed there.

They followed the deep set of Rex tracks along the muddy bank. She had stopped here recently for a drink, which was comforting to Owen.

“Hey Owen, do you really think you could control Blue again?” Lowery asked in Owen’s earpiece. 

“Doesn’t matter. I can’t try.”

“Yeah but I mean...well you did sort of shoot her.”

“To save your dumb ass.” Owen retorted, but his words had no bite, and they both chuckled. “But yeah. I was her alpha. And I’m still her family. I think I could win her back, and it would be a lot safer here with her than without.”

Lowery was quiet a moment. “I trust you on that. I’m sorry dude.”

Owen blinked in surprise. “Even though she tried to eat you?”

“She was a hungry animal and I’m meat. She doesn’t know me.”

_Lowery gets it for chrissake why don’t the rest?_  
Owen had to admit that his admiration for the computer geek swelled a bit. He was grateful to have someone in his court, even if he tended to be a little bit of a screw up at times. Loyalty was still one of Owen’s most valued traits.

“You’re right. Thanks for not taking it personally.” Owen chuckled. 

“Hey Owen theres some heat signatures up ahead, careful ok?”

“Got it. Thanks Lowery.”  
Owen could hear movement ahead, and walked cautiously. It was too small to be Rexy. He pulled back a branch and couldn’t help but smile.  
How could you really, when you got to look at living dinosaurs in front of you?

Metriacanthosaurs, several, were standing in the stream, dipping their heads into it, drinking. The water ran in rivulets from the toothy mouths. They were comparable in size to raptors, though bulkier, and less cunning. Owen wasn’t worried about them. They had more than enough tranqs to deal with them. 

“Owen you got eyes on the dinos? Because there’s something...weird?” Lowery piped up.  
“Yep, a few metria’s, they don’t seem interested in us though.”   
“Yeah but aren’t those guys on the small side? I’m seeing something big man-”  
“Could it just be that they’re close together?” Owen glanced around now, fingers tightening on his gun in unease.   
“Maybe but...I have a bad feeling man I think you should g-”

Owen couldn’t hear the warning over the thundering crash of a massive suchomimus charging out of the brush and grabbing a metria in its crocodilian jaws. Cracking, splintering wood...a death roar from the panicked, struggling metria...the crunching of jaws that belonged to a dinosaur nearing a Rex in size...the stream was in chaos.


End file.
